The bill signed Friday by President Obama providing $600 million to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border will add 1,500 government jobs and give a modest boost to the hard-hit regional economy.

The money will fund the hiring of 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents in the Southwest, as well as 250 Customs and Border Protection officers. The bill will also maintain the employment of 270 officers already deployed along the border.

Much of the funding is allocated for “salaries and expenses” for various federal departments, including $253.9 million for the Customers and Border Protection, $80 million for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and $8.1 million for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

An additional $196 million slated for the Department of Justice will fund salaries for the U.S. Marshals, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. prosecutors, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Prison System, among other things.

“[The bill] helps to absorb a small fraction of the extraordinary large number of unemployed Americans,” said Moody’s chief economist John Lonski. “That comes in handy, given that cash-strapped states and local governments have been forced to cut back on payrolls. Recently unemployed police officers and public works employees might find new jobs in this program.”